About LANCE

NASA's Land, Atmosphere Near real-time Capability for EOS (LANCE) makes Earth Observing System (EOS) data from the following instruments instruments available within three hours of satellite observation:

This is to meet the timely needs of applications such as numerical weather and climate prediction; forecasting and monitoring natural hazards, ecological/ invasive species, agriculture, and air quality; providing help with disaster relief; and homeland security.

User Community

LANCE users span a variety of communities interested in a range of applications. Users come from both the civilian and military sectors, from government and non-government agencies and from universities and other research intuitions. This section highlights a selection of LANCE users.

Fire

Fire

Global Fire Information Management System (GFIMS)—GFIMS is an operational version of FIRMS running at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO) where it complements the FAO’s existing suite of projects that deliver near-real time information to ongoing monitoring and emergency projects, to other UN organizations as well as providing information to the general public.

Global Observation of Forest and Land Cover Dynamics (GOFC-GOLD)—The GOFC/GOLD-Fire Mapping and Monitoring Theme is a project of the Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS) program, aimed at refining and articulating the international observation requirements and making the best possible use of fire products from the existing and future satellite observing systems, for fire management, policy decision-making and global change research.

US Forest Service Remote Sensing Applications Center (RSAC)—RSAC produces daily regional fire maps based on data from MODIS Rapid Response and their regional Direct Broadcast antenna.The maps are distributed through the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), which coordinates all the national and regional fire agencies across the United States. The maps are used to allocate firefighting resources during the fire season. The Rapid Response staff also supplies the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) with science software to generate rapid fire products from the MODIS data collected regionally by their Direct Broadcast antenna.

Advanced Fire Information System (AFIS)—AFIS is a comprehensive wildfire information system that provides users with information and intelligence around the prediction, detection, monitoring and assessment of wildfires globally. Earth Observing satellite wildfire detections are complemented with both crowdsource detections from the AFIS Watchtower app as well as through automated in situ camera detection systems capable of detecting thin smoke plumes up to 20 miles away. Fire Danger models such as the Canadian Fire Weather Index (FWI) and Australian McArthur Fire Danger models have been fully integrated in to the system and can be produced for any area globally. A new MODIS burned area product has been produced by merging the standard MCD45 MODIS with the MCD64 Burned Area product while a new Landsat 8 and Sentinel 2 algorithm has also been developed to provide higher resolution mapping of new fire events. AFIS provides a hybrid wildfire dashboard providing situational awareness for any region of interest and integrates NASA Worldview into the dashboard to improve the visualization component within the dashboard and now provides users with access to not only the Direct Readout station data but also all the NASA Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS) data sets. Watch a webinar about AFIS.

Floods

Floods

NRT Global MODIS Flood Mapping—NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Office of Applied Science (OAS) is working to operationalize near real-time global flood mapping using NRT MODIS data provided through LANCE. This work builds on the long-time expertise and efforts of the Dartmouth Flood Observatory (DFO) to map floodwater extent in detail for active floods. DFO provides additional detail, additional products, and archives of historical flood maps. The maps generated are available to governments and relief organizations. DFO also compiles yearly catalogs, maps, and images of river floods from 1985 to the present, primarily for researchers.

Agriculture

Agriculture

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA FAS) uses NRT MODIS imagery from LANCE to observe large areas across the world. These images help FAS improve the accuracy and timeliness of the crop yield predictions, which are needed to make decisions affecting U.S. agriculture, trade policy, and food aid. MODIS collects data twice daily, from the Terra satellite in the morning and the Aqua satellite in the afternoon, which helps analysts observe how events such as fires, volcanic eruptions, floods, storms, or extreme temperatures affect crops.

Global Agricultural Monitoring (GLAM), a collaborative project between the University of Maryland, USDA FAS and NASA uses NRT MODIS to produce crop masks and timely NDVI products that allow FAS analysts to distinguish between different crops like wheat and rice and predict yield by comparing current data with previous years.

Air Quality

Air Quality

The United States Air Force Weather Agency and the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) rely on MODIS Rapid Response images to monitor and predict dust storms in the Middle East and Southwest Asia. Dust storms can interfere with troop and equipment movement and with aircraft safety. The military also uses NRT time imagery for other areas in the world where weather conditions, snow cover, smoke, fires, volcanic eruptions, and other things could impact military operations.The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US NRL monitor for smoke that might be a health threat.

Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET)—AERONET is a worldwide network of ground based sensors that monitor the air for aerosols to understand the impact of aerosols on climate change. LANCE provides NRT MODIS imagery of the sensor sites. By comparing satellite and ground-based observations, scientists can learn how aerosols reflect and absorb light and can validate satellite-based aerosol observations. This will improve the tools scientists use to monitor aerosols over the entire Earth.

Sea Ice

Sea Ice

The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) uses MODIS NRT imagery to help navigate sea ice and to populate Polar View, a website that delivers information about sea ice extent and icebergs directly to ships operating in the Southern Ocean. Users of Polar View in the Antarctic include national program operators, tourist vessels and other ships working in this region. The aim of Polar View is to make sea ice information widely accessible to all ships and operators in the Southern Ocean.

The Polar Geospatial Center (PGC) uses NRT MODIS imagery to flag significant polar events, this information is used task higher resolution imagery. PGC also harvests MODIS NRT imagery to add to its collection of satellite imagery supporting researchers and logistics groups in the polar science community. Timely data is used to support the U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP). The images are used to plot new courses for the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker and fuel and cargo ships bringing supplies to McMurdo Station, the American research station on Antarctica. Daily images are crucial to chart a safe course around the drifting icebergs and through the sea ice that covers McMurdo Sound. The images are also being used by scientists who are tracking the movement of the icebergs.

Outreach

Outreach

As LANCE can create an image of an event such as a major fire the same day it happens, the images are ideal for news and outreach. Rapid Response provides regular images of storms, fires, and other events as they happen to the NASA Public Affairs Office and the media. MODIS Rapid Response images have been featured in major newspaper and television networks across the world. NASA’s Earth Observatory web site posts regular MODIS images of significant events around the world in the Natural Hazards section and as Image of the Day. MODIS Rapid Response images have also appeared on the NASA portal, Goddard home page, and on Goddard TV.

The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) incorporates MODIS Rapid Response images into a regularly updated exhibit about the Earth called Science Bulletins. Displayed on interactive kiosks and on high-definition video, the Science Bulletins provide a way for museums to exhibit stories and information about current science, and are intended to show that science is dynamic with new discoveries being made constantly. There are four Science Bulletins: Astro Bulletin, which is about astrophysics and astronomy, Bio Bulletin, about biodiversity and conservation, Earth Bulletin, about Earth and climate, and Human Bulletin, about human interactions with the environment. In addition to being displayed at the American Museum of Natural History, the Bulletins are also made available for display to other science museums, universities, and NASA visitor centers around the United States and Canada. Currently, 21 institutions are participating. The Bulletin sites offer additional information, not available in the exhibits, as well as an archive of past Bulletins.

User Working Group

LANCE is reviewed and supported by a User Working Group (UWG) whose members reflect the various user communities served by LANCE as well as representatives of the Science Teams for the five LANCE instruments. The group is chaired by Miguel Román, Program Director of The Earth from Space Institute (EfSI), an institute of the Universities Space Research Association (USRA). Miguel has take over from Professor Chris Justice (Chair of the Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland) who was chair for 10 Years. The UWG meets at least once per year to review the status of LANCE operations and development activities and to provide guidance concerning future upgrades suggested by the user communities and the LANCE elements. Details of the responsibilities of the UWG are given in the User Working Group (UWG) Charter.

More information about the User Working Group can be found on the LANCE wiki.

Working Group (UWG) Charter

1.0 Preface

The Land, Atmosphere Near real-time Capability for EOS (LANCE) User Working Group (UWG) shall be responsible for providing guidance and recommendations concerning a broad range of topics related to the LANCE system, capabilities, and services. In these regards, the UWG shall be responsible for representing the broad needs of the LANCE applications user communities. In addition the UWG members shall have close ties with the various Science Teams for the instruments included in LANCE. Any recommendation by the UWG shall not constitute an implementation instruction but shall indicate that NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS) should engage NASA Headquarters concerning the feasibility and cost of implementation. Final authority shall rest with the latter.

2.0 LANCE Mission and Services

The LANCE system is responsible for generating and distributing near-real time data products for a number of instruments on the EOS Terra, Aqua and Aura missions with a high degree of reliability. In particular the LANCE system involves a number of elements: MODIS, AIRS, MLS, OMI and AMSR-E instrument data. All Level 1 and 2 data products are distributed within 3 hours of observation. LANCE provides a number of services including user registration, web services, user services, data metrics, browse products, and tools for generating subsetted products and products using a variety of data formats.

3.0 LANCE User Working Group

3.1 Responsibilities

Topics for consideration by the LANCE UWG shall include but are not limited to:

Assessing the efforts of the LANCE elements in the implementation of prior recommendations made by the UWG.

Providing an assessment of the quality of the services provided by the LANCE elements and a determination of the extent to which the products reflect the needs of the applications communities.

Suggesting modifications to existing product and services that will improve the degree to which LANCE meets the end user requirements

Reviewing the suggested enhancements that have been made for the LANCE elements by UWG members, ESDIS staff, the LANCE element’s staff, or the end users and developing recommendations for NASA Headquarters concerning which of these should potentially be implemented in the next 12 month interval. The UWG shall also recommend the priorities for implementation.

Identifying the possible evolution of the LANCE system on a 1-2 year timeframe.

3.2 Membership

To the extent possible, the UWG in its entirety shall include representatives from all sectors of the user communities which are serviced by LANCE products and services and shall be cognizant of the science aspects of the data products. The UWG shall be limited to 15 members and shall include representatives from U.S. civilian and military agencies, universities, the private sector, and foreign organizations. The term for the members shall be 2 years and the failure to attend two consecutive UWG meetings will automatically terminate membership. The terms shall be renewable. The responsibility for identifying the UWG Chair, the UWG members shall rest with ESDIS and NASA Headquarters. In addition to the 15 members representing the user communities, there shall be 6 ex-officio members: a representative from NASA Headquarters (Vice Chair), a representative from ESDIS, and the LANCE element leads.

3.3 Meeting Schedules and Procedures

A minimum of one face-to-face meeting and one teleconference per year shall be scheduled by the Chair and the Vice Chair. If necessary, additional teleconferences may be required to discuss, for example, system upgrades that are time-critical in nature as determined by the user community. For these ad hoc meetings a quorum shall be the UWG member(s) representing the instrument involved and the potential user community, the Chair and Vice Chair, the ESDIS representative, and the element lead(s) involved with the potential system upgrade. ESDIS shall be responsible for generating minutes for all UWG meetings. In addition, ESDIS shall generate quarterly reports for the UWG identifying system status, system updates, and ongoing development activity in the context of the UWG recommendations. These items shall be included on the LANCE web site.

The format for the face-to-face meetings shall be determined by the Chair and Vice Chair. In general, the meeting shall include the status of each element and a report on ESDIS activity and a discussion/recommendation session organized around the suggested system upgrades. ESDIS shall be responsible for distributing the meeting agenda.